#BalanceforBetter is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, which is observed each year on March 8. The 2019initiative is aimed at gender equality, a greater awareness of discrimination and a celebration of women’s achievements, according to the International Women’s Day website

The United Nations instituted International Women’s Day, celebrated every year on March 8, to commemorate the contribution of women in the socio-political sphere as well as in global peace and security.​

Insightful Quotes About Womanhood

54 Inspirational Books All Women Should Read in Their Lifetime

‘Becoming’

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In this just-released autobiography, the former first lady walks readers through the challenges and triumphs in her life that have shaped her into the fearless female leader she is today. Is there anything Michelle Obama can’t do?

 

‘Bad Feminist: Essays’

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Through a collection of hilariously honest essays, Roxane Gay outlines how subtle messages in mainstream society feed discrimination against women, and the culture we consume can become who we are. As a culture, it’s easy to get caught up and let the discrimination of women in songs and other media continue. Gay emphasizes that we can do better in identifying areas that need to be improved

‘The Alchemist’

This bestseller walks you through the journey of an Andalusian shepard who gives up a peaceful life to chase after his dreams. Although his success is never certain and he runs into obstacle after obstacle, the shepard follows his heart and trusts his path to achieve his dreams.

‘Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More’

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Janet Mock reveals her heartwarming story of growing up multiracial, poor, and transgender in America. She is a voice to an often discriminated and misunderstood population while instilling hope that you can push past fear to become your true self.

‘Bad Feminist: Essays’

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Through a collection of hilariously honest essays, Roxane Gay outlines how subtle messages in mainstream society feed discrimination against women, and the culture we consume can become who we are. As a culture, it’s easy to get caught up and let the discrimination of women in songs and other media continue. Gay emphasizes that we can do better in identifying areas that need to be improved

‘Girl, Wash Your Face’

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Everyone’s felt overwhelmed and unworthy at times, and author Rachel Hollis — founder of the lifestyle website TheChicSite.com — goes through all the lies we tell ourselves chapter by chapter, from insecurities to self-confidence destroyers.

‘You Do You’

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In this book, author Sarah Knight teaches readers how to find true happiness from living life on your own terms — and how to stop being bossed around by people on a power trip. She also wrote bestsellers The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ckand Get Your Sh*t Together.

‘This Is Me’

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If you watch This Is Us (or even if you don’t) this book from Chrissy Metz, who plays Kate on the show, is a must-read. She talks about the lessons she’s learned and takes readers on her own personal journey to self-acceptance.

‘How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t’

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Andrea Owen is a life coach and her self-improvement book won’t be like any you’ve ever read before. It’ll teach you to stop listening to your inner critic and empower yourself to live a more fulfilling life.

‘When Action Follows Heart’

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In her new book, Woman’s Day editor-in-chief Susan Spencer proves even the smallest acts of kindness can make the biggest difference, whether it’s giving up a parking spot to someone or sharing a smile. Inspired by the Kindness Project, these stories, quotes, and advice will inspire you to be better

‘Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond’

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In this New York Times bestseller, Elizabeth Gilbert brings us more of her wisdom, this time on being creative. She encourages us to dig deeply within to purge unnecessary suffering, uncover the “strange jewels” hidden there, and express our creativity fearlessly.

‘Nomad: From Islam to America’

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This powerful story is from the author of Infidel (which spent 31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list). This book is a continuation of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s life story, this book is about her journey to America to start a new life away from the death threats she received from European Muslims for exposing truths about radical Islam.

‘Knowing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth’

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Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski tackles the connection between women’s self-worth and financial and career success in her New York Times bestseller. Using interviews across industries and fields, she tells us how powerful women moved up in their careers and provides research-backed answers to why the gender wage persists and what to do about it.

‘Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood’

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A New York Times Notable Book and one of TIME‘s “Best Comix of the Year” in 2003, this graphic novel by Marjane Satrapji uses black and white images to tell the story of an intelligent, outspoken only child growing up in Iran during the time of the Shah’s overthrow

‘Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself’

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This Amazon bestseller addresses an issue that still challenges women of all generations: codependency. Using the book’s simple, straightforward strategies, readers can overcome destructive behavior, extricate themselves from other people’s drama, and regain sight of their own lives.

‘The Long Awakening: A Memoir’

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What was meant to be the joyous occasion of the birth of her child turned into a harrowing nightmare when Lindsey O’Connor fell into a 47-day coma during the birth. When she awakens, she knows who and where she is, but other life details remain murky. Her faith and that of her loved ones are challenged as she rebuilds her life.

‘The Boston Girl’

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Anita Diamant’s New York Times bestselling novel takes readers along on the life journey of a protagonist, Addie Baum, a strong-willed daughter of Jewish immigrants, as she comes of age in Boston’s North End in the early 1900s. This story of a young woman is the recounting of the now 85-year-old Addie’s life.

‘Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom’

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In this book of witty, mom-friendly essays, Taylor delivers straight-from-the-hip insight into all things motherhood to busy new moms. From Mommy-and-Me classes to addressing all the “sudden experts” in your life, she slays myths and motherhood at the same time.

‘Carry On, Warrior‘

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Based on a social movement inspired by the blog Momastery, this New York Times bestseller is a collection of comical new essays and the best material from the blog.

‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’

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Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 coming-of-age classic follows Janie Crawford, who goes from a vivacious but disenfranchised teenager to a woman determined to control her own destiny. It’s set in central and southern Florida in the 1920s, a time when being African American in the Deep South could be harrowing.

‘Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart’

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Author Claire Harman transforms Charlotte Brontë from a tragic figure to the heroine she actually was, in this story of a woman who grew up poor, but was determined not to remain in poverty and obscurity.

Little Women

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Readers today still recognize themselves in the young women protagonists of this classic coming-of-age story set in Civil War-era New England. Alcott takes us through the trials and tribulations of sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, each of them more unique than the next.

‘Successful Women Think Differently’

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Valorie Burton, a professional certified coach, tells us successful women handle all of life’s challenges completely unlike those who struggle to experience what she calls “victorious lives.” She uses Biblical principles to demonstrate the ways in which effective women do

‘Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich’

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Most women were raised to “be nice” and “play it safe” in all areas of their lives, including money. In her New York Timesbestseller, Lois P. Frankel implores readers to break the bad money habits that keep them broke.

‘Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women’

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Anybody in recovery of any kind knows what a daily challenge it can be. Karen Casey endeavors to bring women courage in that ongoing process by helping women bridge the gap between themselves and a higher power

‘The Woman Code’

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Sophia A. Nelson asserts that all women live by a code, one that governs every area of her life. Inspired by her personal faith and own experience in business, she encourages women to apply her 20 keys to unlock their desired life.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In this large, comprehensive, revelatory biography, Jane De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburg’s passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, her meticulous jurisprudence: her desire to make We the People more united and our union more perfect.

Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie’s letter of response. Here are fifteen invaluable suggestions–compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive–for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman.

Women in Science

Rachel Ignotofsky’s Women in Science highlights the contributions of fifty notable women to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from the ancient to the modern world.

Warrior Queens

In this panoramic work of history, Lady Antonia Fraser looks at women who led armies and empires: Cleopatra, Isabella of Spain, Jinga Mbandi, Margaret Thatcher, and Indira Gandhi, among others.

Half the Sky

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers

The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers is the most comprehensive anthology of its kind: an extraordinary range of voices offering the expressions of African American women in print before, during, and after the Civil War.

The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl is the record of two years in the life of a remarkable Jewish girl whose triumphant humanity in the face of unfathomable deprivation and fear has made the book one of the most enduring documents of our time.

She Persisted

Chelsea Clinton introduces tiny feminists, mini activists and little kids who are ready to take on the world to thirteen inspirational women who never took no for an answer, and who always, inevitably and without fail, persisted.

The Firebrand and the First Lady

A finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and longlisted for the National Book Award, Patricia Bell-Scott’s The Firebrand and the First Lady is the riveting history, two decades in the making, of how a brilliant writer-turned-activist and the first lady of the United States forged an enduring friendship that helped to alter the course of race and racism in America.

March is Women’s History Month, and it’s a great time to reflect on all of the ways that women have left their mark on the world. A fun way to learn and celebrate women in history is through the movies, whether you’re watching biographies on iconic women, or learning about their struggles through documentaries and historic films.

1. Our Times: American women aren’t the only ones with a reform struggle to tell. Our Times focuses on Iranian women in the 2001 presidential election.
2. One Woman, One Vote: One Woman, One Vote documents the passing of the 19th Amendment by one vote.
3. The Amasong Chorus: Singing Out: This movie shares the growing subculture of lesbian and gay signing choruses through the rise of this feminist/lesbian chorus.
4. Iron Jawed Angels: Hillary Swank stars in this movie about the women’s rights movement in America.
5. The Passion of Joan of Arc: See the story of the powerful Joan of Arc in this movie.
6. Sisters of Selma: Catholic nuns had a large part in the efforts to secure voting rights for African Americans in Selma, Alabama, and this movie tells their story.
7. Nine to Five: These women show their boss that they can do a much better job than he can.
8. The Miracle Worker: The Miracle Worker shows Annie Sullivan’s amazing work as Helen Keller’s tutor.
9. Not for Ourselves Alone: Watch this movie about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to learn about the struggle for women’s rights.
10. Two Women: Two Women is about two women who attended University of Tehran through the Islamic revolution.
11. The Sound of Music: Watch The Sound of Music in a different light — as the sexual awakening of a woman.
12. The Education of Shelby Knox: This girl transforms from a conservative Southern Baptist to feminist liberal Christian who fights for sex education and gay rights.
13. Mama Flora’s Family: See America in the 20th century through Flora, a black woman.
14. Lioness: Although policy forbids women from serving in direct ground combat units, these five female support soldiers ended up in direct ground combat in the Iraq war. They share their experiences through footage, journals, interviews, and more.
15. Far From Heaven: This woman realizes that picture perfect isn’t always perfect.
16. Evita: The musical Evita shares the life of a child from the lower class who rises to the role of first lady and spiritual leader of Argentina.
17. The Joy Luck Club: Amy Tan’s novel comes to life in this movie about a Chinese-American woman’s understanding of her roots.
18. Missing Peace: Watch Missing Peace to learn how how war fails women of faith in various religious backgrounds.
19. The Magdalene Sisters: Watch this movie about women in an asylum for “wayward women” in Ireland.
20. V for Victory: Watch V for Victory to see how important women were to WWII.
21. The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter: Rosie the Riveter celebrates the achievements of women in World War II, sharing interviews with real workers as well as footage from women working in WWII.
22. Sylvia: Gwyneth Paltrow stars in this movie about the poetry and life of Sylvia Plath.
23. Elizabeth: Elizabeth shows the growth of the new Queen Elizabeth.
24. Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice: This movie shares Ida B. Wells’ life as a black female journalist, best known for her anti-lynching campaign.
25. Around the World in 72 Days: Journalist Nellie Bly’s life is explored in this biographical documentary.
26. A Midwife’s Tale: Martha Ballard was an 18th century midwife whose life is told in this movie.
27. Warrior Queen: Warrior Queen offers the story of the Celtic queen Boudica, who shook the Roman Empire.
28. Madame Curie: Learn about the Polish woman scientist who discovered radium in Madame Curie’s biopic.
29. Mona Lisa Smile: The female students in this movie are bright, but seem to be just waiting around for the right man to marry, but their teacher helps them reach their potential.
30. 14 Women: Study the 109th Congress that had 14 women in the Senate through 14 Women.
31. Navy WAVES & Coast Guard SPARS: Partically produced in WWII, this movie shares the role of women in the military from the 40s to the 70s.
32. Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl: Watch this movie about immigrant women at the turn of the century.
33. The Circle: The Circle shows how a woman and her baby daughter are unwanted in Iran.
34. Phat Girlz: Mo’Nique’s movie discusses women living life to the fullest.
35. License to Thrive: License to Thrive depicts the journey of the legislation that opened doors for women in educational programs and activities.
36. Trouble the Water: Follow aspiring rap artist Kimberly as she finds redemption in surviving Hurricane Katrina.
37. Amelia: Amelia tells the story of Amelia Earhart, the young aviatrix who won the Distinguished Flying Cross for being the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
38. Frida: Learn about the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
39. Erin Brockovich: Erin Brockovich’s movie shows the power of one woman who took down a power company polluting a city’s water supply.
40. Secrets of the Dead: Secrets of the Dead shares the lives of the race of warrior women, the Amazons.
41. Fly Girls: The story of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and aviatrix Jacqueline Chochran in particular is told in Fly Girls, through archival film and home movies.
42. Companeras: Companeras offers the story of America’s first all-female Mariachi band.
43. North Country: Watch this movie about Josey Aimes, a woman who went to work in the iron mines.
44. Norma Rae: Sally Field stars in this movie about a textile worker who stands up against deplorable working conditions.
45. My Brilliant Career: Sybylla rejects the opportunity of marriage to maintain her independence and take a job as a governess.
46. Three Sovereigns for Sarah: Three Sovereigns for Sarah shares the true story of the Salem Witch Trials.
47. Born Into Brothels: Kids who are the children of prostitutes in Calcutta’s red light district were chosen to photograph their lives, and their work is shown in this movie.
48. Burning Times: The Burning Times takes a look at the witch persecutions that took place in Europe.
49. Salt of the Earth: Salt of the Earth tells a powerful story of feminism, as the wives of miners in a strike for wage parity play a pivotal role in victory.
50. Rosita: Rosita shares the journey of a 9 year old Nicaraguan girl who became pregnant from rape, and became a subject of political and religious debate.

March is Women’s History Month and there’s no better time to celebrate their contributions. Here are some fascinating facts about women’s history that will showcase some standouts, accomplishments, impacts and just how far they have come.

By the Numbers

Here you’ll find some amazing stats about women in the world today.

1. Today, 71% of moms with kids under 18 work. In 1975, fewer than 47% did. Once upon a time, the idea of women working outside of the home was frowned upon and most women who did so worked as maids, seamstresses, took in the laundry or worked in one of the traditionally female fields. Today, more women not only work outside the home but hold a wider variety of jobs, with some even making it to the top of business, technology and science fields.
2. Women currently hold 17% of Congressional and Senate seats and 18% of gubernatorial positions in the U.S. While women are still underrepresented in political life, the current state of things is a far cry from a time when women weren’t even allowed to vote — a mere 90 years ago.
3. In almost every country in the world, the life expectancy for women is higher than men. For virtually all causes of death at all ages, mortality rates are higher for men. Scientists aren’t entirely sure why this is the case, but believe it might have to do with the presence of estrogen in the body improving immune function.
4. Approximately 14% of active members in the U.S. armed forces today are women. In 1950, women comprised less than 2% of the U.S. military. Today, women play an active role in serving their country through military service, but many in years past would simply disguise themselves as men in order to gain access to the battlefield, including well-known examples like Frances Clayton in the American Civil War.
5. Over 60 percent of college degrees awarded in the U.S. every year are earned by women. In fact, women are more likely than men to get a high school diploma as well, and the numbers are only expected to rise in the coming years.
6. The two highest IQs ever recorded, through standardized testing, both belong to women. One of these high IQ women is the columnist and author Marilyn Vos Savant. Of course, these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, as IQ tests aren’t perfect in measuring intelligence, but it does help show that women aren’t inferior to men in intelligence – as was claimed for centuries.
7. More American women work in the education, health services, and social assistance industries than any other. It seems that while women are moving into the workforce in large numbers, they’re still taking on traditionally female positions like teaching, nursing and social services. These three industries employ nearly one-third of all female workers.

Sports

Check out these facts to learn more about women in sports throughout recorded history.

8. No women or girls were allowed at the first Olympics, but the Games of Hera, featuring footraces for women, were held every four years. In fact, women were not even allowed to watch the Olympic games or encouraged to participate in athletics (with the exception of the Spartans) so that the games existed at all is surprising. At their inception, the games only included that one event.
9. At the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924, the only event open to women was figure skating. Only 15 women participated in these games, something that would change drastically over the decades.
10. Women were not allowed to compete in track and field events at the Olympics until 1928. The ancient Greeks and Romans may have let women run in footraces in the Heraen Games, but when it came to the Olympics, both ancient and modern, these events were off limits to women until 1928. Unfortunately, some of the events were too much for the untrained female athletes, and because many collapsed after the end of the 800-meter race, it was banned until 1960.
11. Roberta Gibb was the first woman to run and finish the Boston Marathon in 1966. Of course, she didn’t get official credit for it, as women were not allowed to enter the race until 1972, but her wins, in ’66, ’67, and ’68 seriously challenged long-held beliefs about the athletic prowess of women.
12. Virne “Jackie” Mitchell, a pitcher, was the first woman in professional baseball. While women still don’t have much of a presence in baseball today, Mitchell proved that it wasn’t because they couldn’t play. During an exhibition game, she struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Her performance probably played a part in baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banning women from the sport later that year.
13. Mary, Queen of Scots is reported to be the first woman to play golf in Scotland. Golf today is still seen as a man’s sport, but this powerful and scandalous queen couldn’t have cared less. In fact, she even went out to play golf a few days after her husband Lord Darnley’s murder.
14. Donald Walker’s book, Exercise for Ladies, warns women against horseback riding because it deforms the lower part of the body. While this book was published in 1837, the views it documented about women doing any kind of exertion or exercise were to hold throughout the Victorian era and beyond.

Culture

Learn more about the role women have played in art, music, and literature from these facts.

15. The world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, was published in Japan around A.D. 1000 by female author Murasaki Shikibu. It is still revered today for its masterful observations about court life and has been translated into dozens of languages.
16. In 1921, American novelist Edith Wharton was the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. She won the award for her novel The Age of Innocence, a story set in upper-class New York during the 1870s.
17. Women often wrote under pen names in times when it was not seen as appropriate for them to contribute to the literature. Even some female authors who are highly acclaimed today had to resort to fake names like Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, Mary Ann Evans (perhaps better known by her pen name George Eliot), and Louisa May Alcott.
18. In the early years of the blues, from 1910 to 1925, the vast majority of singers were women. It might go against the common idea of just what the blues are or what they should sound like, but new research has found that some of the biggest players in the form of music were actually women.
19. In an era when female painters had to struggle for acceptance, Artemesia Gentileschi was the first female to be accepted by the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. A follower of the style popularized by Caravaggio, her work is often particularly adept at bringing to life the passion and suffering of mythological and biblical women.

Amazing Women

These amazing women make for some pretty inspiring facts, perfect for Women’s History Month.

20. Marie Curie is the only woman to ever win two Nobel Prizes. Her first award was for physics for her work on spontaneous radiation with her husband, with her second being in Chemistry for her studies of radioactivity.
21. Hatshepsut was one of the most powerful women in the ancient world and the one and only female pharaoh in recorded history. She was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt after taking over as a supposed regent for her son and reigned for over twenty years. While accounts seem to paint her reign as a favorable one, her images have been defaced on temples and inscriptions as though they meant to wipe her existence from history.
22. Martha Wright Griffiths, an American lawyer, and judge pushed through the Sex Discrimination Act in 1964 as part of the Civil Rights Act. This act has helped protect countless women on the job and in everyday life from discrimination based on their gender.
23. Journalist Nellie Bly put Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg to shame when she completed an around the world journey in only seventy-two days– quite a feat before the invention of the airplane. Bly is also well-known for her expose on mental institutions, a project for which she had to fake psychological illness to gain access to the facilities.
24. Jane Addams was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Because of her work with the Hull House, the public philosopher, writer, leader, and suffragist went down as one of the most influential and prolific women in American history.
25. Upon her husband’s death, Cherokee leader Nancy Ward took his place in a 1775 battle against the Creeks, and led the Cherokee to victory. After the victory, she became head of the Woman’s Council and a member of the Council of Chiefs, playing a key role in social and political changes to the Cherokee nation throughout her life.
26. In 1777, sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington raced through the night to warn New York patriots that the British were attacking nearby Danbury, CT, where munitions and supplies for the entire region were stored during the heat of the Revolutionary War. While Paul Revere gets all the glory for nighttime rides, her journey took her twice the distance and helped the troops prepare and repel a British attack.
27. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony spent their lives fighting for women’s suffrage, but neither lived long enough to see the Amendment granting them the right to vote. Stanton passed away in 1902, decades before women finally won out, and Anthony in 1906 only a few years later.
28. African-American performer Josephine Baker was working in France during WWII, but not only as a singer, dancer, and actress. She was also helping the war movement, smuggling numerous messages to French soldiers. She often hid messages inside her dress or concealed with invisible ink on her sheet music. Baker’s work in the war is only part of what makes her such an amazing figure, as she was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture, perform in a concert hall and played a big role in the Civil Rights Movement.

Famous Firsts

Paving the way for generations to come, these women took down barriers to become the first of their kind in a wide range of fields.

30. In 1853 Antoinette Blackwell became the first American woman to be ordained a minister in a recognized denomination. Impressive, considering there are still only a handful of female ministers nationwide today.
31. The earliest recorded female physician was Merit Ptah, a doctor in ancient Egypt who lived around 2700 B.C. Many historians believe she may be the first woman recorded by name in the history of all of the sciences, making her achievement all the more impressive.
32. The first woman to rule a country as an elected leader in the modern era was Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, who was elected as prime minister of the island nation in 1960 and later re-elected in 1970. She is still one of only a handful of female heads of states, though numbers are growing with female leaders being recently elected in places like Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rice, Lithuania, and Gabon.
33. In 1756, during America’s Colonial period, Lydia Chapin Taft became the first woman to legally vote with the consent of the electorate. While all women didn’t enjoy this privilege until 1920, Taft was allowed to vote because her husband, a powerful local figure, had passed away right before a major town vote. She was allowed to step in in his stead.
34. The first woman to run for U.S. president was Victoria Woodhull, who campaigned for the office in 1872 under the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. While women would not be granted the right to vote by a constitutional amendment for nearly 50 years, there were no laws prohibiting one from running for the chief executive position.
35. The first female governor of a U.S. state was Wyoming governor Nellie Tayloe Ross, elected in 1924. Wyoming was also the first state to give women the right to vote, enacting women’s suffrage in 1869, making it a surprising leader in women’s rights.
36. The first female member of a president’s cabinet was Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor under FDR. She remained in office for the duration of FDR’s terms and helped put together the labor programs needed for the New Deal to succeed.
37. The first person to make the daring attempt to go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel was a woman. On October 24, 1901, Annie Edson Taylor, a forty-three-year-old schoolteacher from Michigan plunged over the falls. She survived with only a small gash on her head but swore to never take them on again.
38. Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, was the first woman elected to serve in Congress. She was elected in both 1916 and 1940. A lifelong pacifist, she was the only member of Congress to vote against entering WWII.
39. On May 15, 1809, Mary Dixon Kies received the first U.S. patent issued to a woman for inventing a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. Before then, most women inventors didn’t bother to patent their new inventions because they couldn’t legally own property independent of their husbands. Few could get the support necessary to turn their ideas into reality.

Historical Happenings

Learn more about women in history from these interesting facts.

40. Wyoming was the first state to grant women the right to vote. It was also the first state to elect a female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross.
41. The first country to grant women the right to vote in the modern era was New Zealand in 1893. In this same year, Elizabeth Yates also become major of Onehunga, the first-ever female mayor anywhere in the British empire.
42. In 1770, a bill proposing that women using makeup should be punished for witchcraft was put forward to the British Parliament. The use of makeup was frowned upon during this period for the effect it would have on men, and women who were thought to be luring men in with scents, makeup, wigs or other cosmetics were thought to be performing the devils’ work by inciting lustfulness. Even the Queen took a hard stance on makeup, calling it “impolite.”
43. On Nov. 26, 1916 birth control activist Margaret Sanger was arrested for distributing birth control information. While Sanger’s views on race are questionable, her efforts to provide women with control over their reproduction were not. Birth control is still a hot issue among many, with some conservative groups condemning it all together.
44. Think that factory work was always done by men? In fact, during the 19th century, factory workers were primarily young, single women. Men and married women stayed home to work the farm or manage the house.
45. Until 1846, the practice of obstetrics was a female-dominated field. It was then that most medical colleges decided women could not attend and the newly founded American Medical Association barred women. Legislation intended to regulate the medical profession also made it nearly impossible for young women to pursue a medical career. Today, however, obstetrics is a female-dominated field once again.
46. Betsy Ross probably didn’t make the first American flag. While she may have been a flagmaker, patriot, and businesswoman of note, there is little evidence to suggest that Betsy Ross actually made the first flag. In fact, the first retellings of this story didn’t happen until years after her death.

Innovative Women

These women came up with new and innovative ideas well worth reading about.

47. In 1903, Mary Anderson was granted a patent for the windshield wiper. It would become standard equipment on cars by 1916. She isn’t alone in her inventiveness. Women have also invented such things as industrial lathes, white out, bras, non-reflective glass, the dishwasher, disposable diapers, petroleum refining methods and much, much more.
48. Amelia Jenks Bloomer didn’t invent the bloomer, but she helped popularize this new article of clothing in the early 1850s, which now bears her name, that would help women be more active and free in their movement. Unfortunately, the style was much ridiculed and Bloomer had to revert to traditional dresses by 1859, but she remained an active member of suffrage movements throughout her life.
49. 40s movie actress, Hedy Lamarr wasn’t just a pretty face, she was also an inventor. Hoping to find a way to contribute to the war effort during World War II, Lamarr developed a radio-controlled torpedo device which used “frequency hopping” to prevent the signals from the torpedoes from being jammed. While the technology wasn’t adopted for WWII, it was used in subsequent conflicts.
50. Susan Kare developed most of the interface elements for Apple Macintosh. You might not think that women have played a huge role in the development of computer technology, but in this case, you’d be wrong. Kare helped develop the bulk of those little icons early Mac users clicked on every day. Kare left Apple in the ’80s and is still working with innovating new technologies and improving a design.

  Women’s History History Month Booklist

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In this large, comprehensive, revelatory biography, Jane De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburg’s passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, her meticulous jurisprudence: her desire to make We the People more united and our union more perfect.

Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie’s letter of response. Here are fifteen invaluable suggestions–compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive–for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman.

Women in Science

Rachel Ignotofsky’s Women in Science highlights the contributions of fifty notable women to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from the ancient to the modern world.

Chasing Light

A collection of striking and intimate photographs of Michelle Obama—many never before seen—coupled with personal reflections and behind-the-scenes stories from Official White House Photographer Amanda Lucidon, presented in a deluxe format.

Women, Culture & Politics

A collection of speeches and writings by political activist Angela Davis which address the political and social changes of the past decade as they are concerned with the struggle for racial, sexual, and economic equality.

Warrior Queens

In this panoramic work of history, Lady Antonia Fraser looks at women who led armies and empires: Cleopatra, Isabella of Spain, Jinga Mbandi, Margaret Thatcher, and Indira Gandhi, among others.

Off the Sidelines

Off the Sidelines is a playbook for women who want to step up, whether in Congress or the boardroom or the local PTA. Kirsten Gillibrand lays bare the highs and lows of being a young (pregnant!) woman in Congress, and the joys and sacrifices every working mother shares.

1. The Second Sex

   Simone de Beauvoir’s essential masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of “woman,” and a revolutionary exploration of inequality and otherness.

   

   Things I’ve Been Silent About

   In this stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, Azar Nafisi shares her memories of living in thrall to a powerful and complex mother against the backdrop of a country’s political revolution.

   

   Half the Sky

   With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

   

   A Woman in Charge

   From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Carl Bernstein, the nuanced, definitive biography of one of the most controversial and widely misunderstood figures of our time: the woman running a historic campaign as the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee—Hillary Rodham Clinton.

   

   Unbowed

   In Unbowed, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai recounts her extraordinary journey from her childhood in rural Kenya to the world stage. When Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, she began a vital poor people’s environmental movement, focused on the empowerment of women, that soon spread across Africa. Persevering through run-ins with the Kenyan government and personal losses, and jailed and beaten on numerous occasions, Maathai continued to fight tirelessly to save Kenya’s forests and to restore democracy to her beloved country.

   

   The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers

   The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers is the most comprehensive anthology of its kind: an extraordinary range of voices offering the expressions of African American women in print before, during, and after the Civil War.

   

   Who Cooked the Last Supper?

   Without politics or polemics, Rosalind Miles’ brilliant and witty book overturns centuries of preconceptions to restore women to their rightful place at the center of culture, revolution, empire, war, and peace. Spiced with tales of individual women who have shaped civilization, celebrating the work and lives of women around the world, and distinguished by a wealth of research, Who Cooked the Last Supper? redefines our concept of historical reality.

   

   A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

   Writing in an age when the call for the rights of man had brought revolution to America and France, Mary Wollstonecraft produced her own declaration of female independence in 1792. Passionate and forthright, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman attacked the prevailing view of docile, decorative femininity, and instead laid out the principles of emancipation: an equal education for girls and boys, an end to prejudice, and for women to become defined by their profession, not their partner.

   

   Becoming

   In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.

   

   My Beloved World

   The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.

   

   Enchantress of Numbers

   Author Jennifer Chiaverini illuminates the fascinating life of Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace—Lord Byron’s daughter, the world’s first computer programmer, and a woman whose exceptional contributions to science and technology have been too long unsung.

   

   The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

   The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua presents a rollicking alternate reality in which Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage do build the Difference Engine and then use it to build runaway economic models, battle the scourge of spelling errors, explore the wilder realms of mathematics, and, of course, fight crime—for the sake of both London and science.

   

   The Diary of a Young Girl

   The Diary of a Young Girl is the record of two years in the life of a remarkable Jewish girl whose triumphant humanity in the face of unfathomable deprivation and fear has made the book one of the most enduring documents of our time.

   

   She Persisted

   Chelsea Clinton introduces tiny feminists, mini activists and little kids who are ready to take on the world to thirteen inspirational women who never took no for an answer, and who always, inevitably and without fail, persisted.

   

   Rad Women Worldwide

   Kate Schatz’s Rad Women Worldwide tells fresh, engaging, and amazing tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well-researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. The book features an array of diverse figures from 430 BCE to 2016, spanning 31 countries around the world.

   

   The Firebrand and the First Lady

   A finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and longlisted for the National Book Award, Patricia Bell-Scott’s The Firebrand and the First Lady is the riveting history, two decades in the making, of how a brilliant writer-turned-activist and the first lady of the United States forged an enduring friendship that helped to alter the course of race and racism in America.

   

   Invisible No More

   A timely examination from Andrea Ritchie of the ways Black women, Indigenous women, and other women of color are uniquely affected by racial profiling, police brutality, and immigration enforcement.

   

   Secret Lives of the First Ladies

   Whether she’s a leading lady, loyal spouse, or lightning rod for scandal, the First Lady of the United States has always been in the spotlight—and in 2017 that was truer than ever. This revised and expanded edition from Quirk’s best-selling Secret Lives series features outrageous and uncensored profiles of the women of the White House, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump.

   

   The Glass Universe

   Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, Dava Sobel’s The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.

   

   Headstrong

   Covering Nobel Prize winners and major innovators, as well as lesser-known but hugely significant scientists who influence our every day, Rachel Swaby’s vibrant profiles span centuries of courageous thinkers and illustrate how each one’s ideas developed, from their first moment of scientific engagement through the research and discovery for which they’re best known. This fascinating tour reveals 52 women at their best—while encouraging and inspiring a new generation of girls to put on their lab coats.

   

   The Richest Woman in America

   No woman in the Gilded Age made as much money as Hetty Green, America’s first female tycoon. A strong woman who forged her own path, she was worth at least $100 million by the end of her life in 1916—equal to about $2.5 billion today.

   

   Coming to My Senses

   The New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed memoir from cultural icon and culinary standard bearer Alice Waters recalls the circuitous road and tumultuous times leading to the opening of what is arguably America’s most influential restaurant.

   

   Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

   The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history.

   

   The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou

   The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou traces the best and worst of the American experience in an achingly personal way. Angelou has chronicled her remarkable journey and inspired people of every generation and nationality to embrace life with commitment and passion.

   

   My Life on the Road

   Gloria Steinem—writer, activist, organizer, and inspiring leader—now tells a story she has never told before, a candid account of her life as a traveler, a listener, and a catalyst for change.

   

   Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3

   Historians, politicians, critics, and readers everywhere have praised Blanche Wiesen Cook’s biography of Eleanor Roosevelt as the essential portrait of a woman who towers over the twentieth century. The third and final volume takes us through World War II, FDR’s death, the founding of the UN, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s death in 1962. It follows the arc of war and the evolution of a marriage, as the first lady realized the cost of maintaining her principles even as the country and her husband were not prepared to adopt them.

   

   Eyes on the Street

   Jane Jacobs was a phenomenal woman who wrote seven groundbreaking books, saved neighborhoods, stopped expressways, was arrested twice and engaged in thousands of impassioned debates—all of which she won.

   

   Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World

   A founding text of transnational feminism. For twenty-five years, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World has been an essential primer on the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century history of women’s movements in Asia and the Middle East. In this engaging and well-researched survey, Kumari Jayawardena presents feminism as it originated in the Third World, erupting from the specific struggles of women fighting against colonial power, for education or the vote, for safety, and against poverty and inequality.

   

2. A Singular Woman

   Barack Obama has written extensively about his father but credited his mother for “what is best in me.” Still, little is known about this fiercely independent, spirited woman who raised the man who became the first biracial president of the United States. In A Singular Woman, award-winning New York Times reporter Janny Scott tells the story of this unique woman, Stanley Ann Dunham, who broke many of the rules of her time, and shows how her fierce example helped influence the future president-and can serve as an inspiration to us all.

   

   Know Your Power

   When Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House, she made history. Now she continues to inspire women everywhere in this thought-provoking collection of wise words-her own and those of the important people who played pivotal roles in her journey. In this compelling book, she encourages mothers and grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters to never lose faith, to speak out and make their voices heard, to focus on what matters most and to follow their dreams wherever they may lead.

   

3. Clementine

   A long over-due tribute to the extraordinary woman who was Winston Churchill’s closest confident, fiercest critic and shrewdest political advisor that captures the intimate dynamic of one of history’s most fateful marriages, as seen on The Crown.

   

   The Life of Elizabeth I

   Perhaps the most influential sovereign England has ever known, Queen Elizabeth I remained an extremely private person throughout her reign, keeping her own counsel and sharing secrets with no one–not even her closest, most trusted advisers. Now, in this brilliantly researched, fascinating new book, acclaimed biographer Alison Weir shares provocative new interpretations and fresh insights on this enigmatic figure.

   

   Queens of the Conquest

   In the first volume of an exciting new series, bestselling author Alison Weir brings the dramatic reigns of England’s medieval queens to life. The lives of England’s medieval queens were packed with incident—love, intrigue, betrayal, adultery, and warfare—but their stories have been largely obscured by centuries of myth and omission. Now esteemed biographer Alison Weir provides a fresh perspective and restores these women to their rightful place in history.

   

   The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

   Henrietta Lacks’ cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.

   

   Elizabeth the Queen

   From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II has been the object of unparalleled scrutiny. Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who has led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last sixty years with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.

   

   Wonder Women

   In Wonder Women, author Sam Maggs tells the stories of the brilliant, brainy, and totally rad women in history who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers, and inventors. Plus, interviews with real-life women in STEM careers, an extensive bibliography, and a guide to women-centric science and technology organizations—all to show the many ways the geeky girls of today can help to build the future.

   

   Hillary

   In this beautiful and empowering picture-book biography of presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Times bestselling author Winter and award-winning illustrator Colón illuminate her distinguished life and career. This stunning project follows Clinton from her early years as an outspoken student at Wellesley College and Yale Law School to marrying Bill Clinton and raising daughter Chelsea, to becoming First Lady of the United States and then a U.S. Senator and Secretary of State.

   

   Romantic Outlaws

   This groundbreaking dual biography brings to life a pioneering English feminist and the daughter she never knew. Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley have each been the subject of numerous biographies, yet no one has ever examined their lives in one book—until now. In Romantic Outlaws, Charlotte Gordon reunites two courageous women who should have shared their lives, but instead shared a powerful literary and feminist legacy.

   

   Between the World and Me

   In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

   

What better way to celebrate our favorite holiday than sharing the voices and photos of women we are lucky to know, admire, and support.

Happy Women’s Day Quotes, Quotations & Sayings

The history of all times and of today especially teaches that women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves. – Louise Otto

A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty – Rudyard Kipling

A lot of guys think the larger a woman’s breasts are, the less intelligent she is. I don’t think it works like that. I think it’s the opposite. I think the larger a woman’s breasts are, the less intelligent the men become. – Anita Wise

A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. – Melinda Gates

I believe that it is as much a right and duty for women to do something with their lives as for men and we are not going to be satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us. – Louisa May Alcott

Women are the real architects of society. – Harriet Beecher Stowe

What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce.

A charming woman doesn’t follow the crowd. She is herself. – Loretta Young

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission. – Eleanor Roosevelt

A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. – Eleanor Roosevelt

In too many instances, the march to globalization has also meant the marginalization of women and girls. And that must change. – Hillary Clinton

One is not born a woman, one becomes one. – Simone de Beauvoir

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous. – Coco Chanel

A beautiful woman must expect to be more accountable for her steps, than one less attractive.

Despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, I have not yet been able to answer the great question that has never been answered:What does a woman want? – Sigmund Freud

Feminism is an entire world view or gestalt, not just a laundry list of women’s issues. – Charlotte Bunch2

Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. – Marilyn Monroe

The trouble with some women is they get all excited about nothing and then they marry him. – Cher

By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacation-less class.

The sadness of the women’s movement is that they don’t allow the necessity of love. See, I don’t personally trust any revolution where love is not allowed. – Maya Angelou

A free race cannot be born of slave mothers. – Margaret Sanger

The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. – Roseanne Barr

Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men. – Joseph Conrad

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. – Mother Teresa

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness. – Oprah Winfrey

Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the President’s spouse. I wish him well! – Barbara Bush

The sadness of the women’s movement is that they don’t allow the necessity of love. See, I don’t personally trust any revolution where love is not allowed.

I really don’t think I need buns of steel. I’d be happy with buns of cinnamon. – Aristotle Onassis

Well behaved women rarely make history. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. – Judy Garland

Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuild my life. – J.K. Rowling

I love women. They’re the best thing ever created. If they want to be like men and come down to our level, that’s fine. – Mel Gibson

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. – Mother Teresa

Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of a man at twice its natural size. – Virginia Woolf

Elegance is when the inside is as beautiful as outside. – Coco Chanel

I’d much rather be a woman than a man. Women can cry, they can wear cute clothes, and they’re the first to be rescued off sinking ships. – Gilda Radner

Beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It’s about knowing and accepting who you are. – Ellen Degeneres

Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own. – Michelle Obama

Elegance is the only beauty that never fades. – Audrey Hepburn

Some people think having large breasts makes a woman stupid. Actually, it’s quite the opposite: a woman having large breasts makes men stupid. – Rita Rudner

The most alluring thing a woman can have is confidence. – Beyonce

Women are leaders everywhere you look — from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes. – Nancy Pelosi

Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world. – Hillary Rodham Clinton

There’s no evidence whatsoever that men are more rational than women. Both sexes seem to be equally irrational. – Albert Ellis

God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I’ve ever met. – Farrah Fawcett

Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity. – Mahatma Gandhi

Find something you’re passionate about and stay tremendously interested in it. – Julia Child

By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacation-less class. –  Anne Morrow Lindberg

Never dull your shine for somebody else. – Tyra Banks

People think at the end of the day that a man is the only answer [to fulfillment]. Actually a job is better for me. – Princess Diana

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. – Marie Curie

I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity. – Michelle Obama

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. – Princess Diana

Any time women come together with a collective intention, it’s a powerful thing. Whether it’s sitting down making a quilt, in a kitchen preparing a meal, in a club reading the same book, or around the table playing cards, or planning a birthday party, when women come together with a collective intention, magic happens. – Phylicia Rashad

Yes, I am a feminist, because I see all women as smart, gifted, and tough. -Zaha Hadid

Women are made to be loved, not understood. – Oscar Wilde

Women want love to be a novel, men a short story. – Daphne du Maurier

A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment. – Jane Austen

A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. A woman must do what he can’t. – Rhonda Hansome

How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.– Anais Nin

I guess at the end of the day, all women like to be appreciated and treated with respect and kindness. – Sofia Vergara

I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot. – Marilyn Monroe

A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. – Melinda Gates

Here’s all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid. – George Carlin

When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another. – Helen Keller

I think a girl can do anything! She just needs to believe in herself. –Elvira Meliksetyan

A strong woman understands that the gifts such as logic, decisiveness, and strength are just as feminine as intuition and emotional connection. She values and uses all of her gifts. – Nancy Rathburn

Women keep a special corner of their hearts for sins they have never committed. – Cornelia Otis Skinner

Whatever you do, be different – that was the advice my mother gave me, and I can’t think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If you’re different, you will stand out. – Anita Roddick

I will not say that women have no character; rather, they have a new one every day. – Heinrich Heine

Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get. -Ingrid Bergman

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous. – Coco Chanel

I am a Woman phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that’s me. -Maya Angelou

You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation. – Brigham Young

Don’t be the girl who fell. Be the girl who got back up. -Jenette Stanley

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn’t have what it takes.” They will say, “Women don’t have what it takes. – Clare Boothe Luc

You have what it takes to be a victorious, independent, fearless woman. -Tyra Banks

When you stumble, keep faith. And when you’re knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on. – Hillary Clinton

A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. -Diane Mariechild

I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

For most of history, Anonymous was a woman. – Virginia Woolf

Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case, you fail by default. – J.K. Rowling

What we women need to do, instead of worrying about what we don’t have, is just love what we do have. – Cameron Diaz

Happy Women’s Day SMS messages and wishes

SMS messages:

This is just my way of saying that you are a very special Woman in my life! Thanks!

I just wanted to thank you from bottom of my heart for all things you do! Happy Women’s Day!

Every Home, Every Heart, Every Feeling, Every Moment Of happiness is incomplete without you. Only you can complete this world. Happy Women’s Day

Sending you wishes to say you illuminate the world around me! Happy Women’s Day!

If you could see it from my eyes, you would know you are one gem of a Woman!

Often we leave our appreciation unspoken! Today we all say Happy Women’s Day!!

Wishing you a day that’s just like you… really special!

Wishing a very Happy Women’s Day to the most amazing women I know

Across the miles comes this wish from me to say…You are special!

No matter from which angle I look at you, you appear to be an angel and Women’s Day is the perfect to say: I am so lucky to have you in my life.

Feel special, unique, on top of the world. It’s your day!! Happy Women’s Day, my girl.

On Women’s Day what can I wish for, but the very best for you! Happy Women’s Day!

A beautiful woman, a great friend and a wonderful mother. You are all this to me and much more… I feel so lucky and proud to have a mom like you.

You can do almost anything your mind to… You can swim the deepest ocean and climb the highest peak… Be a doctor or fly a plane… You can face adversity and still walk tall. You are strong, beautiful, compassionate and much more than words could ever say! Today is yours and so is every other day… Happy Women’s Day!

To my special partner who works 24 hours a day every day of each year, I just want to say that I appreciate you every second of every day. Happy Women’s Day!

We may not be able to see each other or listen to each other often. But thoughts of you fill my heart with fond memories of the times we have spent together. Thinking of you!

On this special day, celebrate life. Take a break from your busy schedule. Let your hair down, have fun and do what your heart says. Coz today is your day. Have a great Women’s Day!

Sending across these lonely flowers, to say: I care for you and anytime you need me, I’ll always be there for you!

Side by side or miles apart, you are always on my mind and close to my heart!

Happy Women’s Day to the one who has stolen my heart!

Together or apart, you always remain in my heart!

This is just my way of saying that you are very special to me!

For all the times you’ve brought a smile and made my days seem brighter. For sharing ups and downs with me and making my burdens lighter. For doing the caring things that make a special friend. Your friendship is a joy. I wish it never ends! Happy Women’s Day!

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. You are an inspiration to me.

To the most wonderful person, I wish you a glorious day!

This is a little note to say: You are always on my mind and very close to my heart!

I dedicate this to the most special woman in my life. Love you, Mom!

Every moment with you is…Magical! I love you!

Through the years, I have shared so much with you, both bitter and sweet. You have been such a comfort to me, helping me in every way, and all I wanna say today is: Sis, I treasure you close to my heart.

The caress of your lips, the fragrance of your breath, the warmth of your enbrace, being with you, it feels like a dream…I love you!

Thanks for making home the loveliest place on Earth!

A wonderful person and a great friend. It’s a blessing to have both of them in you! A very Happy Women’s Day to you!

The best place in the world for me is… by your side! I love you!

You fill my days with happiness and my world with your love! Sweetheart, you are so special to me!

To the woman of my dreams: Thank you for being in my life. Happy Women’s Day!

You are as sweet inside as out. Hope your day is as sweet as you are!

My world is beautiful because of you and I wish to spend the rest of my life loving you. I love you forever!

With you by my side, I’ve found all that I’ve been waiting for! I couldn’t have asked for more… I love you.

These red roses say: You’ll always be there in my heart! I love you.

Your love is like a flame that lights up my world! Sweetheart, I want your love to shine in my life forever…

Holding your hands, feeling the warmth of our togetherness, sharing sweet secrets of love. Sweetheart, with you every moment seems like an everlasting dream. I love you!

I must have wished upon a lucky star to have someone as wonderful as you by my side!

You’ll always be my inspiration for uncommon strength, love, and commitment. Happy Women’s Day.

A woman is an epitome of beauty, wisdom, and care. She has climbed the mountains and dived into the ocean; she has matched the steps with every man in the world. International Women’s Day celebrates the power of women – their rights and role in our lives and society. These Women’s Day quotes not only honor the power of a woman but also highlight their suffrage, pain, and anguishes that they have successfully battled over the years.

1. 1. A woman performs all the duties of a man but a man cannot do all that a woman can do.
   2. “Women, from time immemorial, have fought for the right of others, now it’s her time to get her rights realized and get equal participation in the society.”

1. 1. “A woman, she is born with the power to save and love, her existence is based on the truthfulness in her eyes.”
   2. “A woman should be taught to believe in protecting herself on her own and not to depend on a man for her protection. She has the power to protect the world and not just herself.”
   3. “A woman in any form shall be celebrated and honored, be it, a sister or a wife or a mother or any other form.”

1. 1. “Women are the mammoth reservoir of power and talent which has yet not been tapped.”
   2. “If you want to get a plan, go to a man but if you want it to be done, go to a woman.”
   3. “Empower woman, empower the human community. The base on which the world stands is a women.”
   4. “A strong woman is the one who can dare to raise her voice for the cause she believes in, and this strength lives in a corner in every women’s heart, it just needs to be searched.”
   5. ”A woman is one who walks on her own footsteps rather than following the direction shown by the crowd.”
   6. ”There is only one thing in the Universe which a woman still needs to learn and that one thing is that, ‘she has the power to turn the direction of the wind on her own’.”

1. 1. “The best way to change the society and the underlying issues is to channelize the power of woman in every walk of life.”
   2. “Our mother is one person who makes us realize our dreams. They are the people in our life who work all day and night and that too without getting paid for it.”
      Cheers to the existence of this great creature of the Universe!
   3. “The guess, a woman makes is much accurate than the certainty a man asserts.”
   4. “One powerful being of the society is a woman who is educated and has the power to spread awareness in the society.”
      An educated woman is the one who frightens the advocators of taboos and stereotypes that exist in the society.”
   5. ”Had the woman community had not been there, money would have been meaningless.”

1. 1. “A man’s manhood is reflected in the way, he treats all the women in his life!”
   2. “Be a queen when you think, be a queen when you decide, no one has the power to defeat the tremendous power inside a woman! Her strength can cross any hurdle in her life!!”
   3. ”No matter where you go, you can encounter the power of a woman, she runs a company in the most efficient way, and she raises her children in a way that nobody ever can think of doing!”

1. 1. “Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world” – Hillary Rodham Clinton
   2. “Extremists have shown what frighten them most: a girl with a book” – MalalaYousafzai
   3. “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman” – Margaret Thatcher
   4. “Whether women are better than men I cannot say – but I can say they are certainly no worse” – Golda Meir

1. 1. “Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry” – Gloria Steinem
   2. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world” – Lucille Ball
   3. “A woman is like a tea bag – you never how strong she is until she gets in hot water” – Eleanor Roosevelt
   4. “God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I’ve ever met” – Farrah Fawcett
   5. “Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity” – Mahatma Gandhi
   6. “Women are leaders everywhere you look — from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes” – Nancy Pelosi
   7. “The history of all times and of today especially, teaches that women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves” – Louise Otto

1. 1. “Whatever glory belongs to the race for a development unprecedented in history for the given length of time, a full share belongs to the womanhood of the race” – Mary McLeod Bethune
   2. “I love women. They’re the best thing ever created. If they want to be like men and come down to our level, that’s fine” – Mel Gibson
   3. “Remember the dignity of your womanhood. Do not appeal, do not beg, do not grovel. Take courage, join hands, stand beside us, fight with us” – Christabel Pankhurst
   4. “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission” – Eleanor Roosevelt
   5. “They may talk of a comet, or a burning mountain, or some such bagatelle; but to me a modest woman, dressed out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation” – Oliver Goldsmith
   6. “I think the key is for women not to set any limits” – Martina Navratilova

1. “As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world” – Virginia Woolf
2. “Find something you’re passionate about and stay tremendously interested in it” – Julia Child
3. “Women are the real architects of society” – Cher

Winter is a time when the whole family can belong to themselves and each other . Winter is a time when breaks for, spiced cider, hot chocolate or popcorn seen like necessity – Anne Willison

Moment for you 

Life is filled with silver linings?

It is said that something good comes from just about everything – and it’s true!

Difficult time have a way of calling angels to our sides, of making us smarter stronger, of steering us to better paths. And remember Life still more ups than downs.Storms always pass, and there are always blues skies ahead!

January  Month of Inspiration 

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ -Eleanor Roosevelt

Day 7

Day 1

Any day  is a beautiful day when you ‘re in it

Day 2

Hope: It’s a 100% effective mood booster!

Day 3

You are  the  answer  to  someone’s  prayers

Day 4

Look  for a reason to  smile and you will always  find one

Day 5

Possibilities are still limitless!

Day 6

Kindness costs nothing yet its payoff is great!

Day 7

You exceed expectations!